


The Right Place at the Right Time

by HawkMoth



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: (sort of), Fix-It, Gen, Spoilers for The Name of The Doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 16:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/813787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkMoth/pseuds/HawkMoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"After all, that's how it all started."</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She has to make a start, so it might as well be at the very beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Right Place at the Right Time

**Author's Note:**

> In which I attempt to reconcile certain implications from "The Doctor's Wife" (and my previous story, Grand Theft Gallifrey) with events as portrayed in "The Name of The Doctor."
> 
> Comments appreciated. Bonus points if you can ID the quote in the summary!
> 
> And thank you, Mr. Moffat, for the borrowed dialogue.

******

To the casual observer, all Type-40 Time Travel Capsules in their natural state looked alike, and their telepathic auras felt the same. It took an experienced traveller, a pilot or a crew member, to distinguish one from another. And someone who treated the Vortex as a second home, who considered his race's guidelines and restrictions and laws relating to time travel to be unfair and mostly unjustified, and who thought one particular Type-40 was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, shouldn't have had any trouble finding her amidst her sisters. Even when she was retired from active service, and left in the repair shop, off-limits to everyone but the repair crews, he could still sense her halfway across the Citadel.

Which should have made things so simple, when he reached the end of his patience with Time Lord Society and decided it was time to make his move. Susan was in complete agreement, eager to leave Gallifrey behind and see the wonders of the Universe, as he had described them to her over the years. (She also loved the name he had given her; not at all bothered that he'd chosen it to thumb his nose at his so-called peers who derided and scorned his attachment to a certain planet so very far away and no longer worthy of Time Lord observation.)

But they were in a terrible hurry, and the alarms he thought he had bypassed were going off, which meant Chancellery guards were going to show up any minute. And in that momentary distraction, he did not notice that the dim lights in the shop were growing slightly dimmer, or that one particular shadow had turned darker. The whisper in his mind, the soft voice of _his_ TARDIS calling to him, faded, leaving him unsure for a second.

Susan saw him falter and asked, "Which way?"

Then the voice returned, whispering, _This way. This one. Come to me and be free._

"This way," he repeated, unaware of a change in the voice, of the shadow hovering just behind them. "Come along, my dear," he said, quickly ushering Susan through the door of the nearest capsule as the alarm still sounded.

But suddenly a different voice called out, cutting across the alarm, calling his name. "Doctor."

_His_ name, not the one assigned to him, but the one he'd chosen, the promise he had made to himself. He couldn't turn away from it, even at this most critical moment. 

"Yes?" He should have been startled by the sight of a girl, not much older than Susan appeared, dressed in the style of one particular time and place of his favorite world, looking completely human; but giving off a complex yet familiar mental signature. It was the very essence of the Vortex.

But there was no time to contemplate such impossibilities. "What is it? What do you want?"

The girl smiled and leaned against another capsule. "Sorry, but you're about to make a very big mistake. Don't steal that one. Steal this one. The navigation system's a bit knackered, but you'll have much more fun." 

Even as he stared in disbelief, he heard the whisper of encouragement, the voice of his TARDIS, echoing the strange girl. How could he have made such a mistake? "Susan!" he called over his shoulder. "Not that one, come here at once!"

He turned back, to find the girl had vanished. But it didn't matter. Susan was by his side, and together they dashed into the capsule, the one he'd always meant to steal. He put his hands to the console and felt the spark of recognition, of acceptance, and heard the whisper of a promise to care for him always.

But the Doctor didn't feel the spark fly deeper into his mind, altering his memory of the impossible girl and her impossible words. 

The only word that mattered now was _run_.

******


End file.
